Another PC build

[foundandco]

Hi Guys,

I see a few recent threads on this topic aren't getting any replies, but I for one (with limited PC building knowledge) have found previous advice on this topic to be extremely useful.

…and through the various threads here and elsewhere, I’ve put together the below PC that to the best of my knowledge is the optimal spec for around 2.5k / 2.6k (£).

- Case - CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE

- Processor - AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16 Core CPU (4.2GHz-5.7GHz/144MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5)

- Motherboard - ASUS® ROG STRIX X670E-A GAMING WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 6E)

- Memory (RAM) - 128GB PCS PRO DDR5 4800MHz (4 x 32GB)

- Graphics Card - 12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4070 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR

- 1st M.2 SSD Drive - 2TB CORSAIR CORE XT MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 5000 MB/R, 4400 MB/W)

- Power Supply - CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET

- Power Cable - 1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)

- Processor Cooling - CORSAIR H100x RGB ELITE HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER

- Thermal Paste - STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

- Sound Card -  ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

- Network Card - ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT

- USB/Thunderbolt Options - MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

- Operating System - Windows 11 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence

This will be purely for rendering with Corona (+ general use).

If anyone can see anything I missed, have wrong or could improve upon, it would be greatly appreciated (don't want to be spending any more than this).

I’ve built a PC before but will likely ask PC Specialist to do this one.

Thanks a lot
Chris

[Nejc Kilar]

Howdy! The build looks pretty cool to me although I'm a bit unsure about the memory - those look like RDIMMs to me and if they are then I'd probably switch them out with regular sticks. I keep forgetting if ECC is supported on the consumer platform these days but for Corona you don't really gain anything with RDIMMs. I'd use the saved up money to go with something thats on the motherboard's QVL list and does 5600-6000MT in terms of speed.

Motherboard wise, if you're interested, I think the b650 Pro Art from ASUS might be interesting - it imho has a better PCIE slot layout although you do lose one of the gen5 m2 slots because it changes to gen4 (Pro Art has 1x gen5 and 2x gen4 whereas your choice has 2x gen5 and 1x gen4). This is totally subjective though, I just like the layout on the Pro Art better in case I'd want to run something bandwidth intensive in both the first and second PCIE slots because Pro Art does x8 / x8 whereas the ROG Strix you've chosen does x16 / x4 (because it is via chipset). Again, totally subjective, if you don't think you'll ever run anything like that the one you've chosen is plenty awesome imho.

Oh and the Pro Art has 1x 2.5Gbe and 1x 1Gbe ports built in - if you're running a local render farm or whatever that might be handy depending on how you approach that (I've got my WS connected to the internet via one port and the other port goes to the local network only where the render nodes live :) ).

NVME wise I've recently started using WDs sn770 and sn850xs as they are (to me) quite nicely priced but apparently also amongst the fastest gen4 drives you can get. Compared to your Corsair Core XT choice the sn770 is 40€ cheaper and seemingly faster.
Don't quite me on that but maybe if you look at a couple of reviews and check out your local prices there might be an opportunity so save a couple of pounds there.

Hope any of the above is useful and do note, its nit picking. I quite like your build myself and the only "real" question mark would be that memory.

[foundandco]

Thanks a lot Nejc, much appreciated.

...will look into the memory and motherboard recommendation.